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Review of Drabant 27




Basic specs.

sail specifications
The Drabant 27 is a sailboat designed by the Danish maritime architect Gert Gerlach in the late seventies. Less than 100 boats have been produced. The Drabant 27 is built by the Danish yard Gesten Glasfiber Bådeværft.

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Hull

Both the hull and the deck is made of fibreglass. Generally, a hull made of fibreglass requires only a minimum of maintenance during the sailing season. And outside the sailing season, just bottom cleaning and perhaps anti-fouling painting once a year - a few hours of work, that's all.


Interior
Interior
Interior of Drabant 27 anno 1981.

The interior is like most other boats made of teak. Teak has the advantage of being naturally very oily and therefore water-repellent, which is suitable on boats.
The boat is equipped with 5 - 6 berths, a galley, 80.0 liter fresh water capacity and toilet facility.

Note: the boat has also been sold to be self-made/-interiored, which means that the quality of each boat may vary.

Front cabin
Front cabin of Drabant 27 anno 1981.
Chart table
Chart table of Drabant 27 anno 1981.
Galley
Galley of Drabant 27 anno 1981.

Cockpit
Cockpit
Cockpit of Drabant 27 anno 1981.
Rig

The Drabant 27 is equipped with a masthead rig. The advantage of a masthead rig is its simplicity and the fact that a given sail area - compared with a fractional rig - can be carried lower and thus with less heeling moment.


Keel

Fin keel

The Drabant 27 is equipped with a fin keel. A boat with a fin keel is more manoeuvrable but has less directional stability than a similar boat with a full keel.

The keel is made of iron. Many people prefer lead keel in favour of iron. The main argument is that lead is much heavier than iron and a lead keel can therefore be made smaller which again result in less wet surface, i.e. less drag. In fact iron is quite heavy, just 30% less heavy than lead, so the advantage of a lead keel is often overstated. As the surface of a fin type keel is just a fraction of the total wet surface, the difference between an iron keel and a lead keel can in reality be ignored for cruising yachts.

Drabant 27 can enter most marinas as the draft is just about 1.55 - 1.65 meter (5.09 - 5.39 ft) dependent on the load. See immersion rate below.


Engine

The boat may be equipped with an inboard Yanmar 1GM diesel engine at 7 hp (5 kW). Max speed is 6.0 knots.

The fuel tank, which is made of stainless steel, has a capacity of 30.0 liters (7 US gallons, 6 imperial gallons).


Sailing characteristics

This section covers widely used rules of thumb to describe the sailing characteristics. Please note that even though the calculations are correct, the interpretation of the results might not be valid for extreme boats.

Stability and Safety

What is Capsize Screening Formula (CSF)?

The capsize screening value for Drabant 27 is 1.97, indicating that this boat could - if evaluated by this formula alone - be accepted to participate in ocean races.


Theoretical Maximum Hull Speed

What is Theoretical Maximum Hull Speed?

The theoretical maximal speed of a displacement boat of this length is 6.3 knots. The term "Theoretical Maximum Hull Speed" is widely used even though a boat can sail faster. The term shall be interpreted as above the theoretical speed a great additional power is necessary for a small gain in speed.


Immersion rate

The immersion rate is defined as the weight required to sink the boat a certain level. The immersion rate for Drabant 27 is about 126 kg/cm, alternatively 706 lbs/inch.
Meaning: if you load 126 kg cargo on the boat then it will sink 1 cm. Alternatively, if you load 706 lbs cargo on the boat it will sink 1 inch.


Sailing statistics

This section is statistical comparison with similar boats of the same category. The basis of the following statistical computations is our unique database with more than 26,000 different boat types and 350,000 data points.

Motion Comfort Ratio

What is Motion Comfort Ratio (MCR)?

The Motion Comfort Ratio for Drabant 27 is 19.6 - 22.1.

Low High 58% 0 50 100
Comparing this ratio with similar sailboats show that it is more comfortable than 58% of all similar sailboat designs. This comfort value is just above average.


L/B (Length Beam Ratio)

What is L/B (Length Beam Ratio)?

The l/b ratio for Drabant 27 is 2.95.

Slim Wide 62% 0 50 100
Compared with other similar sailboats it is more spacy than 62% of all other designs. It seems that the designer has chosen a slightly more spacy hull design.


Ballast Ratio

What is a Ballast Ratio?

The ballast ratio for Drabant 27 is 39%.

Low High 46% 0 50 100
This ballast ratio shows a righting moment that is higher than 46% of all similar sailboat designs. A righting moment (ability to resist heeling) just below average.


D/L (Displacement Length Ratio)

What is Displacement Length Ratio?

The DL-ratio for Drabant 27 is 258 which categorizes this boat among 'light crusers & offshore racers'.

Heavy Light 42% 0 50 100
42% of all similar sailboat designs are categorized as heavier. A heavy displacement combined with smaller water plane area has lower acceleration and is more comfortable.


SA/D (Sail Area Displacement ratio)

What is SA/D (Sail Area Displacement ratio)?

The SA/D for Drabant 27 with ISO 8666 reference sail is 15.0, with a 135% genua the SA/D is 17.8.

Low High 38% 0 50 100
The SA/D ratio indicates that it is faster than 38% of all similar sailboat designs in light wind.


Over- / underrigged

Low High 54% 0 50 100
The Drabant 27 has more rig than 54% of all similar sailboats, which indicates that the boat is slightly overrigged.


RSP (Relative Speed Performance)

What is Relative Speed Performance?

The Relative Speed Performance for Drabant 27 is 69

Slow Fast 69% 0 50 100
The relative speed performance is 69 which means that a it is faster than 69% of all similar sailboat designs.


Maintenance

Bottom Paint

When buying anti-fouling bottom paint, it's nice to know how much to buy. The surface of the wet bottom is about 22m2 (236 ft2).
Based on this, your favourite maritime shop can tell you the quantity you need.

Note: If you use a paint roller you will need more paint than if you use a paintbrush.


Rig

Dimensions of sail for masthead rig.

mainsail specifications genoa specifications spinnaker specifications

Are your sails worn out? You might find your next sail here: Sails for Sale



If you need to renew parts of your running rig and is not quite sure of the dimensions, you may find the estimates computed below useful.



Guiding dimensions of running rig
UsageLengthDiameter
Mainsail halyard 25.1 m(82.5 feet)8 mm(5/16 inch)
Jib/genoa halyard25.1 m(82.5 feet)8 mm(5/16 inch)
Spinnaker halyard25.1 m(82.5 feet)8 mm(5/16 inch)
Jib sheet 8.3 m(27.2 feet)10 mm(3/8 inch)
Genoa sheet8.3 m(27.2 feet)10 mm(3/8 inch)
Mainsheet 20.8 m(68.1 feet)10 mm(3/8 inch)
Spinnaker sheet18.3 m(59.9 feet)10 mm(3/8 inch)
Cunningham2.9 m(9.5 feet)8 mm(5/16 inch)
Kickingstrap5.8 m(19.0 feet)8 mm(5/16 inch)
Clew-outhaul5.8 m(19.0 feet)8 mm(5/16 inch)

Boat owner's ideas

This section is reserved boat owner's modifications, improvements, etc. Here you might find (or contribute with) inspiration for your boat.

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Finally

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If you have any comments to the review, improvement suggestions, or the like, feel free to contact us. Criticism helps us to improve.



References